A valve amplifier against a solid-state one. They are not really rivals: they differ in character, in what they will drive and in what owning them involves, so start there rather than with the watts.
| Area | Better | Why |
|---|
| Power | evenly matched | Effectively the same output - 28W against 30W into 8 ohms is under 1dB, which is not an audible difference in loudness. |
| Grip on hard loads | B | Schiit Aegir 2F holds up better into a 4-ohm load: its output increases strongly to 50W, where the other barely increases. That matters with demanding speakers far more than the 8-ohm figure does. |
| Noise floor | B | Schiit Aegir 2F is the quieter design on paper - 122dB against 97dB. Audible mainly with sensitive speakers in a quiet room. |
| Analogue inputs | A | FiiO EA13 takes more analogue sources - 4 against 2. |
| Headphones | depends | Only FiiO EA13 has a headphone output. Worth something if you listen late, nothing if you never do. |
| Amplifier type | depends | FiiO EA13 is Tube and Schiit Aegir 2F is Solid State. Valve designs are usually warmer and softer at the limits and need their tubes replaced eventually; solid state is the lower-maintenance choice. This is a taste and ownership decision, not a quality one. |
| Shelf space | depends | Schiit Aegir 2F takes up about 48% less shelf area (755cm² against 1458cm²). |
| Price | A | FiiO EA13 costs less - $770 against $949 at list. |
A FiiO EA13 B Schiit Aegir 2F
depends neither is better in the abstract - it turns on your room, your system or how you will use them. Only specs published for both amplifiers are judged; anything missing on either side is left out rather than guessed.
Which should you choose?
The usual trade-off: Schiit Aegir 2F measures better, FiiO EA13 costs about 19% less. With most speakers in most rooms that gap is smaller in practice than it looks here. If your speakers are a difficult load - 4 ohms nominal, big woofers, or a sensitivity in the low 80s - Schiit Aegir 2F is the safer partner, because how an amplifier behaves when the impedance drops matters more than its 8-ohm rating.
What a spec sheet cannot show: how either sounds with your speakers, how the controls feel day to day, and what the app is like to live with - which is where most all-in-one amplifiers are actually won or lost. Power figures are the manufacturers' own and are not measured to a common standard, so treat small differences as noise. If you can hear both, that will tell you more than any row above.